Diet foods (low calorie crisps, chocolate bars, etc) - yay or nay?

I was wandering around Tesco's earlier and saw some new low-calorie crisps on offer, called Velvet Crunch or some such thing. They were £2 for 2 multipacks and I thought 'Ohhh, they look good' so had two packs in my hands before I could stop myself.

But then I thought no, this isn't just about me losing weight, it's about me being able to maintain any weight loss by teaching myself better eating habits. Surely crisps should be an occasional treat and not something I should use to bulk up my allotted number of calories...which in my mind equates to mindless eating, whereas I want mindful eating to be the way forward. I don't even usually eat crisps on a regular basis, but it was the low calorie tag that caught my vulnerable eye...surely I should be seeking out the natural whole foods, and leaving the processed refined foods for that occasional weekly/fortnightly/monthly treat? So they went back onto the shelf and I walked away.

It's such a big business, low calorie processed foods, and is there any benefit to them in an obese nation (as the news keeps telling us we are at the mo)? Or are they something people can grab hold of as an easy option while the manufacturers are rubbing their hands in glee at our misplaced spending habits?

I used to say absolutely yay, because I thought without them i couldn't not eat the higher fat/cal alternatives, but now I'm trying to say no. I want to become a non snacker and then an occasional snacker when I feel it's safe to re introduce.

The diet snacks certainly weren't helping me to learn how to do this, but abstinence is!

__________________

2013 is going to be MY YEAR! Focusing on good food choices and exercise, the rest will follow!

Taking a break from the scale, but BACK WITH A BANG! When I'm back in the UK in April 2013 I hope to be lower than 168, which is from July 2012ish and the lowest I got before some regaining. Until then, it's all about good food and exercise and no obsessing over numbers!

Sounds like we're of a similar mind set on this issue! I've used them before without any thought, but if I'm going for a lifestyle change here to lose the weight and most importantly, keep it off, then I need to stop the blind assumption that I need to have things like this in my daily intake.

I'd rather get to a position where i can choose to have the full-fat tasty version as an occasional treat!

I was in Tesco, perusing the ready meals section. What I really wanted was the mushroom risotto with double cream and truffles. But I thought, I "should" have the one from the healthy range. I took one in each hand and compared the nutritional info. The "diet" one had 100 less calories. But it doesn't stop there! It had THE SAME amount of fat, and 6x as much sugar!! So you can guess which one I bought.

In my experience, diet foods aren't up to much. They either leave me completely unsatisfied and craving donuts, or where they remove fat, or calories, they really beef up salt, sugar and sweetener to make the food taste of something. It's that kind of disjointed diet mentality that got me into this mess in the first place. Now, I eat the full fat versions. Without fail. I eat what I want, when I'm hungry and I stop when I'm satisfied. I can always eat again when I'm hungry later. Diet foods unequivocally make me hungry twice as often.

Eat as healthily as you can, find healthy foods you could eat all day long, even if it's only a few. And if you want a cake now and again, that's cool. Just not all the time. I avoid diet foods because they make me want to eat more, and crazy uncontrollable cravings are not fun!

__________________
2.5 years later... found the way to combine IE with calorie counting!

I did the same today. Bought snack a jacks cause they were on offer. I don't often have crisps but I thought low fat= ok. Also low fat yogurts taste awful. I'd rather have a full fat one every so often than low fat regularly.

I probably see it completely differently from you guys - I'm more of the opinion that I want a sustainable weight loss and I'm not the type that can do abstinence off anything, I'd feel like I was depriving myself.. I still want crisps, I still want granola bars, etc although I know they're probably no good for me. I can fit them in around my caloric needs for the day and meet my nutrient requirements with my main meals. I don't usually eat ready meals so I can't comment on that, but definitely yay for low-calorie snacks (I love the velvet crunch crisps haha).

If I were to pick it'd be the non-diet version but even then I'd try to steer clear as I'm not in the territory yet where I can jut have one bag of crisps, one bar of chocolate etc.

Did anyone see the Channel 4 programme last night about Weight Watchers? Part of it was where they compared a 'diet' ice cream product which had any number of strange sounding ingredients to a premium brand 'full fat' product which just had the inredients you'd expect and recognise as being the components of ice cream. The diet product was lower in calories, but sometimes it's not just about the calories.

Because I'm trying to do intuitive eating, mindful eating - where I eat when I'm hungry (but ONLY then), stop when full. I'm supposed to eat whatever I want, but ONLY what I really want and can absolutely enjoy.

Do I want 'diet' crisps? Probably not.

There are a few 'diet' foods that I choose because I like them. Low-sugar jam tends to have a lot more fruit in it -which is they way I like my jam. Low-fat coleslaw tastes better to me. Who knows? Maybe these velvet crisps absolutely rock.

__________________

Lose 25lbs by 15 April (10 Mar)
Get to 100 kg (220) by 1 May (7 Apr)
Be 205 by race day - 14 July
One-derland by 1 Sept